Order of Worship Ikenobe Presbyterian Church
Prelude
Call to Worship Matthew 11:28-30
Hymn No. 66 Holy, Holy, Holy
1 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!
2 Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before thee,
Who was and is and evermore shall be.
3 Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide thee,
Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.
4 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.
Lord’s Prayer
Affirmation of Faith The Apostle’s Creed
Responsive Reading Psalm 24
The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory!
Prayer
Hymn No. 162 All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
1 All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown him Lord of all.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown him Lord of all!
2 O seed of Israel’s chosen race
now ransomed from the fall,
hail him who saves you by his grace,
and crown him Lord of all.
Hail him who saves you by his grace,
and crown him Lord of all!
3 Let every tongue and every tribe
responsive to his call,
to him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all.
To him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all!
4 Oh, that with all the sacred throng
we at his feet may fall!
We’ll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all.
We’ll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all.
Reading of Scripture Isaiah 35:1〜10
1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the LORD,
the majesty of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. [ESV]
Prayer of Illumination
Sermon “Revenge Sung with Joy” https://ikenobechurch.com/New/isaiah-35-en/
February 22, 2026 Isaiah 35: “The Joyful Song of Vengeance”
Isaiah chapter 35 marks a major turning point. It closes the sequence beginning in chapter 13—a stark contrast to the harshness that preceded it—with a song overflowing with joyful exultation, leading into the next section starting with chapter 36.
This chapter is also called “the most beautiful confession of faith in the Old Testament”.
The Bible is a book that confronts us with the stern words of the Holy Lord, yet it also overflows with blessings that surpass them—promising flowers blooming in the wilderness and desert, beautiful streams flowing, comforting and strengthening us.
1 The wilderness and the desert shall be glad; the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. 2 The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
The desolate scenes of “wilderness and desert… wasteland” are the reality where Isaiah’s words of God’s stern judgment have come to pass.
The Lord severely condemns sin, injustice, and pride in the world of that time and in us today, striking down human vanity.
He says that wilderness and desert will rejoice, leap for joy, and blossom.
It mentions saffron.
I thought of saffron rice—yellow rice—and imagined this too as a landscape covered in yellow flowers.
Many English Bibles use “crocus”.
These are spring-blooming flowers in purple, white, and yellow.
Saffron is a type of crocus, a purple flower that blooms in autumn.
The spice made from its yellow stigmas is said to be the world’s most expensive spice, yielding just 1 gram from about 150 flowers.
It is a flower resilient to cold, possessing vigorous vitality.
The wasteland will be covered with purple saffron flowers.
Overlapping this is Lebanon, renowned for its majestic towering cedar trees.
Carmel offers breathtaking views overlooking the Mediterranean, while its foothills in Sharon are a beautiful green scenic area.
While saffron might grow in the desert, cedar trees absolutely cannot.
Yet here, saffron in the desert, forests of Lebanon cedars, the spectacular views from Carmel, and the expansive green of Sharon all overlap.
Such profound transformation can only be depicted through such vivid imagery.
When standing before a breathtaking view, or encountering a beautiful painting (or music, or story), have you not felt not just moved, but brought to tears, almost painfully so?
Perhaps what is too beautiful stirs within us the ugly things, the tears and wounds, the things we have lost.
Right now, it may be impossible to think of it any other way.
Yet Isaiah declares:
3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the unsteady knees. Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear! Your God will come with vengeance, with divine retribution. He will come and save you.”
This connects to the “Be strong.
Do not fear” spoken to those with weakened hands, faltering knees, and troubled hearts.
There is news to strengthen the weakened heart. It is the news that your God is coming.
God is coming.
And He comes as “your God”, it means “our God.”
And since He comes as our God, it can also be said that “vengeance,” “God’s reward,” is coming—that He comes to save you.
The word ‘vengeance’ might make you flinch, but saving you is precisely “God’s vengeance,”
His reward.
This word “vengeance” doesn’t mean “retaliation,” but rather “restoring balance to a broken relationship, reestablishing righteous rule”.
God restores what was broken in our hearts and lives, restoring the way of life God originally intended for us—repairing what was broken, calming our troubled hearts so we need not fear.
This is the kind of “revenge” God takes—and the coming of this God, our God, is salvation.
This is a profound transformation.
Therefore, verses 5 and 6 carry multiple layers of meaning.
They can be read as referring to the actual healing of visual and auditory impairments, or the healing of all sicknesses.
Indeed, when Jesus came, He healed many sick people.
Yet Jesus also pointed out, “Because you think you see, you do not see”.
Paul’s letters also pray, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened…”.
Isaiah speaks of the stubbornness of the heart’s ears and eyes.
It’s not just about physical eyes or ears versus spiritual ones; rather, the body is healed, and the glory, grace, and will of God become visible.
It’s not just knee pain disappearing, but walking in God’s ways, running and dancing.
Opening our mouths to sing with joy—that’s the kind of holistic healing.
What the Lord brings is more than mere healing or treatment;
it’s everything being made new, a restoration where we are filled from the heart, from the tips of our toes to the ends of our hair, every wrinkle, by the Lord’s love.
It’s exactly as it says: we sing from the heart and leap for joy. It is because:
… For waters will break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. 7 The parched ground will become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; the haunt of jackals will become a marsh with reeds and papyrus.
This image of water and rivers flowing through the wilderness, bringing abundant moisture, is an expression repeated throughout Isaiah chapters 40–55.
The words describing water springing forth in that parched land, transforming it into thickets of reeds and papyrus, are powerful words that surely awakened hope.
Water gushing forth in the wilderness, places that were only dens for beasts becoming like watersides—seeing this, the scales fall from our eyes, we leap up, and sing with joy.
This is none other than us—me, you—singing and dancing. Can you imagine such a scene?
And finally, in verses 8–10, the “highway” appears.
The “holy way” runs through it.
The unclean shall not pass through it.
This is for those who walk that way.
The foolish shall not wander there.
9 There shall be no lion there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up there;
nothing shall be found there.
Only the redeemed shall walk there.
Unthreatened by defiled ones, fools, beasts, or any hindrance, the redeemed return along this highway. And
10 Those redeemed by the Lord return.
They enter Zion singing joyfully, crowned with everlasting joy.
Delight and gladness follow them; sorrow and sighing flee away.
This song is repeated verbatim in chapter 51, verse 11. It is a song of hope drawn from Isaiah, the essence of the goal. And it is a song quoted in the Bible’s final book, Revelation, in chapters 7 and 21.
This “redeemed” means bought back at a price.
The Lord pays the price for His people, claiming us as His own.
Therefore, this is entirely passive.
It depends not at all on our own strength or worthiness, but solely on the Lord’s grace and His own sacrifice.
We are made redeemed and return through that highway.
To begin with, the people of Isaiah’s time were “unclean…fools.”
Though they outwardly fulfilled the duties of worship, their hearts were defiled by sin, and they were fools who wasted their precious minds on narrow-minded thoughts.
It is impossible for them to cleanse themselves or manage things wisely on their own.
But precisely because of this, the Lord redeems them. Here, there is absolutely no condition of nation, ethnicity, status, or anything else.
No matter how much I’m called unclean or how utterly foolish I feel about myself, the Lord redeems even my hopelessly inadequate parts.
I too am counted among the “redeemed,” singing with joy as I walk home along the highway.
I need not fear those who threaten or hinder this!
The saffron mentioned in verse 1 has sometimes been translated as “rose.”
We often hope the desert will turn into roses, that our lives will become rosy.
But it is saffron, not “roses”.
In Iran, the world’s top producer, saffron fields stretch across seemingly dry ground, covered in endless purple saffron.
It’s not a barren land transformed into a paradise flower garden, but rather a landscape where the wasteland blooms with countless small flowers, each holding a tiny treasure.
Thomas Keating once said:
“We are invited to invite God to reveal Himself as God within our very humanity—within our weakness, within our addictions, within our sin.”
Our powerlessness, our very problems, are the very space where God redeems and saves us.
Those redeemed by the Lord are granted this grace.
In the wilderness of our weakness, in the barren desert, in the darkness of sin, the Lord comes to us and shows us His work, making the desert bloom with saffron.
He gives us eyes to see that grace.
That is why even now, on our daily journey, it is precisely when we are disappointed, when we feel like giving up, when we are utterly helpless, that we pray, “Lord, come here.
Reveal Yourself as our God.”
Prayer:
“Our God, our Redeemer, You cause flowers to bloom in the wilderness, shine light in the darkness, and make us sing songs of life with joy.
Though we cannot see it now, Your grace is present.
Above all, through Your Son Jesus Christ, You have redeemed us, made us Your own, and fulfilled God’s vengeance.
When our hearts are troubled by sin, when our spirits are desolate by the difficulties of life together, let us look to the Lord who comes to us there.
Guard our journey on earth, and let us await the future fulfillment by singing today’s song.”
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Hymn No. 520 When Peace, Like a River
1 When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well with my soul.”
It is well with my soul;
it is well, it is well with my soul.
2 Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control:
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and has shed his own blood for my soul.
It is well with my soul;
it is well, it is well with my soul.
3 My sin oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
my sin, not in part, but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more;
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well with my soul;
it is well, it is well with my soul.
4 O Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend;
even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul;
it is well, it is well with my soul.
Offering
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
Today’s Bible Verse
Isaiah 35:10
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Welcome and Announcements
Hymn No. 546 Holy, Holy, Holy from “Deutsche Messe”
by Franz Schubert
Holy, Holy, Holy, God Almighty Lord!
Holy, Holy, Holy, Everywhere adored!
He without beginning, He th’eternal One,
Reigns and rules for ever All things’neath the sun.
Sending Prayer and Benediction
Postlude
Go In Peace!